When Genre Baker, then eight years old, from North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania was in hospital receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), there was one little machine in the form of a Nintendo DS that made the stays more bearable and now a year older, he is the inspiration for the provision of these portable systems for similar patients at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Speaking to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Genre, now nine years old, describes the time he spent in and out of hospital:
Whenever I was in the hospital, I had to stay there for hours and there was nothing to do but play my (Nintendo) DS... I wanted other kids to be able to have one, too, if they didn't.
His family went on to form the Genre's Kids with Cancer Fund. Recently, over $5000 USD was raised at the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco, where Jodi Fowler ran her first half-marathon since joining the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. She dedicated the run to Genre, whose cancer has gone into remission, though he will still need to undergo treatment until September 2012. Even then, he will have to be in remission for five years without chemotherapy to stand a chance of living cancer-free.
Fowler will be working with the family and Genre's Kids with Cancer Fund in holding its inaugural Footsteps in Faith 5K and Fun Walk on 28th August in downtown Irwin, Pennsylvania.
[source pittsburghlive.com]
Comments 20
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Its moments like these, where you know some people were put on this earth for a reason. If only I had money, I would buy a system for a kid.
what games are they getting???
This is a great idea.......
@Mecoy, Lol...
I like this, great job on the fund raisers!
It's fitting that his name is Genre.
that was nice of him
Aaaw sweet little kid.
we lost our 19 yr old daughter, caitlin, to ALL. she'd been diagnosed at age 14. it is very bad for teens to get dx'd with leukemia; they are considered 'old' and at very high risk.
we'd take cait's gamecube and ds to the hospital with us. sometimes we were in hospital for 8 weeks at a time. it is an amazing help for these kids to have games to play to help them get through some very rough treatments. i miss her every second of every minute of every day.
That is so sad. I wish that there was no such thing as cancer. Then about 1/3rd of the world's troubles would be gone.
poor you@k8s mum. and yeah that is a good cause. i hope the kids like their ds's like i do.
Awesome.
And some people think video games are bad! If Nintendo DS systems can help visits to the hospital be more bearable for children, then video games ARE good!
Awesome news!
That is very good
I know it would help me if I was in his shoes.
@Punnyguy I don't think this means video games are 100% good. Like almost everything, they can be used for good yet too much of a good thing is not always a good thing. Video games can and often are good but they can be bad too. This is an example of a good thing.
Man, that's awesome. Helping any way you can is important, this could improve the mental health of the children by providing them a good outlet.
That's really cool. They better make sure nobody around them in the hospital has a pacemaker if those kids decide to do multiplayer games. Those wi-fi waves have killed people in the past unfortunately. It'd be a shame that their act of kindness ended up killing people.
It'll help the kids get their mind off of whats going on. I hope they get Dragon Quest IX.
That's great. We really need to start doing more of this.
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